Go West

Because Go West came out in in the middle of Buster Keaton’s hot run, it’s often bracketed with the rest of them – The Three Ages, Our Hospitality, Sherlock Jr, The Navigator and The General. But Go West isn’t conceptually brilliant, like Sherlock Jr is. Nor is the 1925 feature a compendium of brilliant sight gags, like The General. Instead, Keaton settles for making relentless fun of his character, billed only as Friendless, in a story following a hungry and penniless man initially to New York City. New York turns out to be a bad idea – Friendless is literally crushed underfoot by the teeming crowds – and so he decides to heed the advice … Read more